Christmas is in the air on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall, and not just because of holiday creep.

The mall is a central setting in "Christmastime," a feature film that for the past three weeks has been shooting in Denver and Boulder. This week marks the fourth and final week of production.

The film's crew turned heads Monday as it arranged and filmed numerous sequences on the Pearl Street Mall centering on Poet's Walk, a fictional business that has taken over the store front once occupied by GoLite between Broadway and 13th Street.

The film stars Christian Kane, from the TV series "Leverage," and Marley Shelton, from films including "Sin City" and "The Sandlot." It also features Ernie Hudson, of "Ghostbusters" fame. All three actors were part of scene shot on the mall Monday afternoon and evening.

"This reminds me of living in L.A.," Boulder resident Nick Saltrese said after he stumbled upon the movie set following a visit with a friend at the Boulder Book Store.

Saltrese said he attended the California Institute for the Arts for two years and, after spotting some filming for "Christmastime" in Boulder last week, he couldn't help but think his current town in becoming a colder version of Southern California.

"I think it could be a great location. There is a lot of great landscape to shoot and with historic structures..., " he said referencing the building housing Poet's Walk. "this is the way to go."

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Writer and producer Rick Ramage apparently agreed with Saltrese when booking locations for his movie. A resident of the Denver area for nearly his entire life, Ramage said when considering places to shoot scenes for "Christmastime" he would send pictures of places on the Pearl Street Mall to director Michael Landon Jr. and challenge him to find anything quite like it.

Actors Ernie Hudson playing Donatello, and Mallory James Mahoney playing Taylor work on a scene of the film "Christmastime" on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder on Monday. For more photos of the scene go to www.dailycamera.com. (Paul Aiken / Daily Camera)

"The pictures were worth a thousand words," Ramage said with a grin as he watched the crew set up a shot on Monday night that will be used in the film's final sequence. "Boulder has a very unique look. It's very cosmopolitan and very accessible. You can't find that look anywhere else."

Ramage said shooting in Boulder has been "phenomenal," crediting the Boulder Film Commission and the businesses on the Pearl Street Mall for being helpful.

"Boulderites, for the most part, are curious and have been very polite," he said.

"Christmastime" centers around a couple, played by Kane and Shelton, who are on the brink of "making it big" by selling their Pearl Street business, Ramage said. With the impending sale as a backdrop, an angel gets involved with aims to help save the couple's marriage, he said.

The movie recently collected a large group of extras from the Denver and Boulder areas and a handful of them took part in scene shot Monday involving Hudson, and Mallory James Mahoney, the young girl who plays an angel in the movie.

"Remember they are angels so you don't see them," a crew member shouted at the extras as the scene was set.

Among the extras were Cassandra Baca and her daughter, Keely. Baca, a Lakewood resident, said she has some mutual friends with Ramage, which helped her and her daughter land spots as extras.

"I want to be famous," the 9-year-old Keely explained when asked why she wanted to be part of the production.

When asked how she was managing her excitement before the scene began she said "Not so well," and smiled.

Among the passersby who took a moment to check out all the "Christmastime" action was John Evans, owner of the Buddha's and Goudha's smoke shop, located just around the corner from the mall on 13th Street. He said he welcomes the movie and hope others follow the production to Boulder.

"I think it's cool," he said. "Anything that is going to create more excitement is going to invite more tourism and I think that's good."

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